West News Wire: According to Pakistan’s railways minister, a train heading from the port city of Karachi to Abbottabad derailed in the city of Nawabshah in the Sindh province, killing at least 15 people.
“This accident is really a big. At least 15 passengers were killed and 45 others were injured when rescue crews arrived on the scene, Khawaja Saad Rafique informed reporters on Sunday. He also said that “more rescue teams have been dispatched to the site.”
Talking about the accident’s cause which may have been a mechanical issue or a terrorist attack would be premature, according to Rafique.
According to Muqarrab Khan, a local police officer from Sindh’s Sanghar district, the accident has injured about 50 people.
Mohsin Syal, a railway official, earlier told HUM News channel that eight coaches of the Hazara Express, which was travelling from Karachi to Abbottabad, derailed near Sahara railway station in Nawabshah, about 275km (170 miles) from Karachi, the capital of Sindh province.
Without giving a precise number of casualties, provincial railway official Ijaz Shah told the AFP news agency that a number of people were killed and injured in the disaster.
Images shared by the local media show a large crowd at the scene, some breaking windows to assist passengers in exiting the overturned coaches and bent carriages.
On Pakistan’s outdated railway system, accidents and derailments frequently happen.
Two trains collided in June 2021 near Daharki, Sindh, resulting in at least 65 fatalities and 150 injuries.
In that incident, an express train derailed into the opposing track, and about a minute later, a second passenger train smashed into the wreckage.
At least 75 passengers were burned to death in a fire on board the Tezgam express train in October 2019, while a two-train collision at Ghotki killed more than 100 people in 2005.
